Motorcycle Ban: Okpanam.Residents Appeal To Oborevwori For Rethink, Road Construction

By Magnus Emuji

An appeal has gone to Delta Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori on the need for his administration to have a rethink on the ban of the use of motorcycles in some areas, especially in areas that there is no accessible road network where people only depend on ‘Okada’ to and fro their various homes.

Residents in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state, who spoke to journalists on the condition of anonymity, said that the ban was only a good idea when the accruing benefits superseded the consequences.

They said that even though the operations of commercial motorcycle riders in the area which is part of the State Capital Territory might be perceived by the government as defacing the intended beauty of the area, extending the enforcement of the ban to part of the town such as Amachai and Ogbeozoma Quarters where there were no good roads for tricycles to navigate through except the use of okada would compound issues.

The respondents explained that operation of commercial motorcycle riders was their only means of livelihood and survival, adding that the ban might cause unnecessary crime and untold hardship.

They, however, stated that many graduates that were not gainfully employed by government and the private sector resorted to commercial motorcycle operations, stressing that the ban would lead to geometric increase in the number of unemployed youths in the state.

They called on the state government to instead limit the ban to only areas that were motorable enough to make it easy for tricycles riders to begin plying such adjourning streets that were not trekeable.

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Some of the respondents, who are civil servants stated that since the ban, they have been finding it difficult to trek close to one hour from their homes to Okpanam Round About where they could take Keke to Asaba.

The respondents in Amachai and Ogbeozoma Quarters, particularly appealed to the state government to come to their aid by embarking on road construction in their areas just as residents of Amachai said that no single road has been constructed in their area by the government.

They called for the construction of Amachai road to link Akwu-Kwu Igbo , the Headquarters of Oshimili North Local Government Area and control the gulley erosion that was confronting the people in the area, saying that the road would enhance socioeconomic well-being of the people.